Why I Sing the Songs I Sing: An exploration into the creative strands that contribute to my performance of song. Karan Casey PhD Arts Practice Supervisor: Dr Sandra Joyce Professor Mick Moloney Course Director: Professor Helen Phelan Submitted to the University of Limerick September 2019 1 2 Abstract Why I Sing the Songs I Sing: An exploration into the creative strands that contribute to my performance of song. Karan Casey This thesis explores my role as a creative female voice within Irish folk and traditional music, dealing with questions relating to my creative process, the performance of social justice, orality, performativity and social activism. My two PhD performances provide the central inherent intellectual and emotional contributions to the philosophical considerations that this thesis formulates. The first chapter is a road map outlining arts practice methodological and theoretical approaches, situating the research primarily in my performances and in my auto-ethnographic writing. Also introduced are the more traditional research methods of ethnographic interviews, data from archival work, panel discussions and a questionnaire. The cultural framework and background of traditional singing was interrogated in Chapter 2 and contextualised by an overview of the literature on Irish traditional and folk song. I specifically explored the origins of political folk song as it forms a central part of my repertoire. I utilized my performances to explore further how performativity, orality, arrangement and the reworking of the songs is deeply embedded in my creative process. Chapters 3 and 4 involve an intensive interrogation of my two performances. Chapter 3 focusses on my first performance of traditional, folk and self-composed songs. It highlights issues relating to my creative process, particularly my song-writing and the central role of the performance of social justice. In Chapter 4 I concentrate on my second performance entitled I Walked into My Head. This performance was a radical new departure for me involving song-poems, sound design, piano playing and movement as well as newly-composed and traditional songs. I particularly emphasise here the effect of my social activism and research on my performance. This thesis affords an insight into my role as a creative female performer in the world of Irish traditional and folk music. I am a folk singer who is greatly informed by traditional Irish singing. My performance is eclectic, borrowing freely from other musical realms but reframing them through my own musical personality. All the aspects of my creativity are important to my performance, particularly my creative-writing. The performance of social justice is integral to my creative life and illuminates how I feel about the world. It contributes to my connection with the audience and along with my activism has the inherent power to enact social change. 3 Declaration I, the undersigned, hereby declare that this submission is entirely my own work, in my own words, and that all sources used in researching it are fully acknowledged and all quotations properly identified. It has not been submitted, in whole or in part, by me or another person, for the purpose of obtaining any other credit / grade. I understand the ethical implications of my research, and this work meets the requirements of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee. 4 Acknowledgments Sincerest thanks to Dr Sandra Joyce and Global Distinguished Professor of Music Mick Moloney for supervising this thesis. Many thanks to Professor Helen Phelan, my classmates and to the faculty at The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance of the University of Limerick. I would also like to thank Lucy Dawson for her videography on I Walked into My Head and the performance in Dolan’s of Limerick. Huge thanks to Síle Denvir and Méabh Ní Fhuartháin for the deeply enlightening conversations on academia and research. I appreciate the generous support of Fintan Vallely, all at FairPlé and Úna Clarke, Denise Carroll and Yvonne Brady. Many thanks to my dear friend Dorothy Bukantz who really stepped in and contributed not just on an intellectual and emotional level but also with the copy editing. Thank you Dorothy. The writing and performance of I Walked into My Head could not have happened without the enthusiasm and generosity of Olwen Fouéré, Dr Niall Vallely, Professor Mel Mercier and Bill Whelan. Massive thanks to Paul O’Donnell, Cónal Creedon, and Professor Joseph O’Connor for their creative inputs. Niamh Dunne and Sean Óg Graham have been minding me both musically and emotionally and have encouraged me along the way, thank you both. Thanks also to my dad Karl Casey for his great encouragement, support and love over the years. My two life gurus are my two beautiful, ever evolving and changing daughters Muireann and Áine Casey Vallely. They are the light of my life and they put up with a lot during this PhD voyage. Thank you women. Of course the person who deserves the most thanks again, is my husband Niall Vallely. His constant love and attention through this expedition and his insightful own ‘narrative inquiry’ into the work were particularly illuminating and helpful for the process. Thank you so much Niall. Love k 5 Dedication I would like to dedicate this thesis with much love to Niall Vallely, Muireann and Áine Casey Vallely 6 Table of Contents Abstract 3 Declaration 4 Acknowledgments 5 Dedication 6 Table of Contents 7 List of Appendices 9 Memory Stick Contents 10 Introduction 11 Chapter 1: “… a song is more than ‘just a song” 14 Situating self 15 Arts Practice Research 25 Methodological approaches 31 Auto-ethnography 32 Narrative Inquiry 34 Interviews - ethnographic research 35 Archival research 37 Fiction-based research 38 Performances 39 Experiential research 39 Bibliographic research and outputs 40 Theoretical Underpinnings 41 Conclusion 46 Chapter 2: Irish Traditional and Folk Song 48 Irish traditional and folk song 50 American Folk Singing 53 Singing technique 54 Living example 55 Historical overview of traditional songs and singing 56 Lays 56 Songs: “The Rocks of Bawn” and “Hollis Brown” 59 The Singing of Traditional Songs 61 Performativity 61 Accompaniment 62 Satire for the performance of social justice 62 Orality 63 Connection with the audience 64 Creativity and reworking the song 65 Overview of Political Irish Song and Folk Song 66 Conclusion 69 Chapter 3: Creative process and the performance of social justice 70 Performance: Dolan’s of Limerick. 25th of April 2018. 72 Gestalt Performance 73 The creative process 74 A traditional singer writing self-composed songs 75 Self-composed songs 77 7 “Home” 78 Reflection on the performance through the arts practice lens 79 “Lovely Annie” 80 Exploring the performance 80 “Down in the Glen” 81 Exploring the performance 84 Questionnaire 84 The performance of social justice 88 Anti-war songs: “The King’s Shilling” and “Man of God” 88 “Ballad of Accounting” 92 “If only you would just sing and not talk” 92 Documentation of activism 93 “Hollis Brown” Arrangement 94 Conclusion 96 Chapter 4: I Walked into My Head 97 Feminism 98 Singing and activism 99 Is singing enough? The evolution of FairPlé 104 Second PhD performance - I Walked into My Head 106 Place and people 106 Contextual framework 107 Research and the creative process 108 Panel discussion 109 Areas of challenge for a performance 110 Themes 110 Listening 111 Experiential research 112 An reacaire 112 Moving the project along 113 Other challenges 114 Methodological Approaches 114 Listening and research 115 Movement 116 Travel and choice 116 Methodological approaches to writing “Heathrow, again” 117 “Skywoman” or “Dublin Airport Carpark” 118 Song section 118 “Voices” 119 Conclusion 122 Chapter 5: Conclusion 124 Bibliography 129 Discography 138 Personal Discography 140 Appendices 146 8 List of Appendices Appendix 1: Ethno-fiction 146 Appendix 2: Performance 1 – Song Lyrics 147 Karan Casey, Niall Vallely, Niamh Dunne and Sean Óg Graham at Dolan’s of Limerick Appendix 3: Audience Questionnaire 157 Appendix 4: Call to Action - Facebook post 158 Appendix 5: FairPlé speech 161 Appendix 6: Performance 2 – Script 168 I Walked into My Head Appendix 7: Statistics on Gender 187 9 Memory Stick Contents Video of Performance 1 – Dolan’s of Limerick April 25th 2018 Filmed and Edited by Lucy Dawson and Shane Vaughan Sound by Liam Marley Video of Performance 2 – Theatre 1, University of Limerick April 4th 2019 Filmed and Edited by Lucy Dawson Sound by Danny Bride Lights by Róisín Berg 10 Introduction My name is Karan Casey and I am a singer. My singing is motivated by a deep love of song and is an expression of my understanding of the world. This thesis explores my role as a creative female voice within Irish folk and traditional music, dealing with questions relating to my creative process, the performance of social justice, orality, performativity and social activism. My two PhD performances provide the central inherent intellectual contributions to the philosophical considerations that this thesis formulates. Stemming from my long experience as an interpreter of folk and traditional songs and as a writer of newly composed songs I plan to explore the performative elements that I bring to my singing. These give meaning and a life-force to the song texts I choose. In each performance I believe that new ideas are created, musically, gesturally and emotionally, relating and connecting or finding meaning with the audience and creating a social bond that holds cultural and political understanding within that community at that particular time. Stokes argues that “even though they are out of the ordinary experiences, music and dance do encourage people to feel that they are in touch with an essential part of themselves, their emotions and their communities” (Stokes, 1994, p. 13). In examining my own unique approach to this varied repertoire my aim in this research is to interrogate my personal engagement with the creative process.